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Businesses

Submission + - Do private companies have to keep their email?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: So I'm an IT intern at a medium-sized manufacturing business. In short, my superiors have asked me to research if privately-held corporations have to archive all of their email.

Have any laws pertaining to archiving/backing up emails been recently passed or proposed in light of any headline corporate scandals?

Or, more simply put, is it legally ok for employees and administrators at private companies to permanently delete their emails?
Power

40% Efficiency Solar Cells Developed 357

Posted by Zonk from the that-makes-me-28-percent-happy dept.
gtada writes "A story published at Physorg.com discusses recently published research into the fabrication of solar cells that surpass the 40% efficiency milestone. Such devices would be the high water-mark to date, and hint at the possibility of even more effective technology. 'In the design, multijunction cells divide the broad solar spectrum into three smaller sections by using three subcell band gaps. Each of the subcells can capture a different wavelength range of light, enabling each subcell to efficiently convert that light into electricity. With their conversion efficiency measured at 40.7%, the metamorphic multijunction concentrator cells surpass the theoretical limit of 37% of single-junction cells at 1000 suns, due to their multijunction structure.'"
Privacy

Submission + - Photo Tagging: A Privacy Problem? (harvardlawreview.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Harvard Law Review, a journal for legal scholarship, recently published a short piece on the privacy implications of online photo-tagging. The anonymously penned piece dourly concludes that 'privacy law, in its current form, is of no help to those unwillingly tagged.' Focusing on the privacy threat from newly emergent automatic facial recognition search engines', like Polar Rose but not Flickr or Facebook, the article states that 'for several reasons, existing privacy law is simply ill-suited for this new invasion. First, traditional tort law does not recognize invasions of privacy that occur in public, such as the taking of a photo in any public location. Second, the few public invasions that do constitute torts involve celebrities or other individuals who have commercial interests in their likenesses. Third, courts have severely limited privacy protections in order to ensure that privacy claims do not limit the free flow of ideas.' The article suggests that Congress create a photo-tagging opt-out system, similar to what they did with telemarketing calls and the Do-Not-Call Registry.
Media

Copying HD DVD, Blu-ray Discs May Become Legal 188

Posted by kdawson from the but-it-could-cost-ya dept.
Consumers could soon be able to make several legal copies of movies bought on HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc under a new licensing agreement now being negotiated. Rights holders might charge more for discs that can be copied for backup or for use on a media server, however.
Censorship

Holocaust Dropped From Some UK Schools 1286

Posted by kdawson from the careful-you-might-offend-somebody dept.
dteichman2 writes "It appears that some UK schools are ignoring the Holocaust. A government-backed study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, found that some teachers are reluctant to teach history lessons on the Holocaust for fear of offending Muslim students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial. Additionally, similar problems are being encountered with lessons on the Crusades because these lessons contradict teachings from local mosques."
Google

OpenDNS Says Google-Dell Browser Tool is Spyware 188

Posted by samzenpus from the google-google-google dept.
PetManimal writes "David Ulevitch, the founder of OpenDNS, claims that Google and Dell have placed 'spyware' on Dell computers. Ulevitch made the claim based on his observation of the behavior of the Google Toolbar and homepage that comes preinstalled on IE in new Dell machines. He says that a browser redirector sends users who enter nonexistent URLs to a Dell-branded page loaded with Google ads. Another observer, Danny Sullivan, says that this is a different result than what happens on PCs without the redirector. However, the original article notes that Ulevitch has a vested interest in the results of mistyped URLs."
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Star Wars fan creates security scare in Melbourne

Submitted by
svunt
svunt writes: "A Star Wars fan in costume (blaster included) was swooped on by a number of police today in a Melbourne shopping centre. From the article

"The replica gun appeared to have what resembled a battery pack connected to the gun by a coiled wire, while boots and a laptop were also in the bag. The man was clad in black with unusual logos on his sleeve and breast pocket, and had what appeared to be a hands-free mobile phone earphone in one ear.
The man was later charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm. It appears that he was en route to a photo shoot to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of Star Wars."
Power

Submission + - Big Oil threatens gas prices because of biofuels

Submitted by Stickerboy
Stickerboy writes: Just in case it wasn't clear that Big Oil has Americans by the short hairs, now they're making thinly veiled threats: Quit pushing biofuels so hard, or we won't expand any more fuel refining capacity (NYT registration needed). A lack of refining capacity is one of the top culprits for higher prices at the pump. Of course, never mind the number of domestic refineries and total refining capacity is at a lower level than it was in 1980. If trying to pass off record profiteering as mediocre business results doesn't work, maybe threats to gas prices will keep the public cooperative and in line!
Businesses

The Man Who Owns the Internet 369

Posted by samzenpus from the what-a-way-to-make-a-living dept.
Tefen writes "CNN Money posted this story about Kevin Ham, who has made a fortune gobbling up lapsed domain names and has recently launched a lucrative business partnership with Cameroon, the country which controls the .cm TLD. Since 2000 he has quietly cobbled together a portfolio of some 300,000 domains that, combined with several other ventures, generate an estimated $70 million a year in revenue."
Microsoft

Jack Thompson Sues Microsoft 574

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the try-not-to-get-laughed-out-of-court-again dept.
An anonymous reader writes to mention that Jack Thompson, in his latest bout of zealotry, has set his sights on Microsoft for their recent release of Halo 3. GameAlmighty has posted the letter to Bill Gates. "Here's the deal, Mr. Gates: Either Microsoft undertakes dramatic, real steps, through its marketing, wholesale, and retail operations to assure that Halo 3 is not sold, via the Internet and in stores, directly to anyone under 17, or I shall proceed to make sure that Microsoft is held to that standard by appropriate legal means. I have done that before successfully as to Best Buy, and I shall do so again as to Microsoft and all retailers of Halo 3."
Television

Slingbox Comes to the Mac 76

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the slung-like-a-cable-box dept.
Egadfly writes "The Slingbox has arrived for the Mac world. Some long delays during development now seem over. Sling Media has finally released version 1.0 of their software for Mac OSX. This means that, after buying and installing the Slingbox, Mac users can 'sling' their home cable and satellite signals to themselves at the airport, or in a café hotspot, or over their office computers. The article on SlingCommunity.com gives the details of the software's development — from last year's much-discussed beta to today's v1.0. Screenshots show how a standard-looking "TV remote," displayed onscreen, allows the Mac users to change channels or browse Tivo recordings over the Internet, many miles from their living rooms."

New DX10 Benchmarks Do More Bad than Good 99

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the who-can-you-trust dept.
NIMBY writes "An interesting editorial over at PC Perspective looks at the changing status between modern game developers and companies like AMD and NVIDIA that depend on their work to show off their products. Recently, both AMD and NVIDIA separately helped in releasing DX10 benchmarks based on upcoming games that show the other hardware vendor in a negative light. But what went on behind the scenes? Can any collaboration these companies use actually be trusted by reviewers and the public to base a purchasing decision on? The author thinks the one source of resolution to this is have honest game developers take a stance for the gamer."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Cell phone companies monopolizing spectrum.

Submitted by zymano
zymano writes: This article from cellular-news.com explains that the wireless companies are going back to their tricks in shutting out competition for spectrum. "The incumbent carriers have track records of participating in spectrum auctions simply to drive up the price for others, and even of not using spectrum once they acquired licenses, to effectively lock out rivals." Two economists also say that there should be rules to prevent Verizon and AT&T wireless from participating in the auction. Ofcourse any attempt at OpenSpectrum will be fought by the wireless companies. Openspectrum is really the only answer for lowcost broadband.
Software

Submission + - FAA software aims to make business flights easier

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "If you are a frequent business traveler you have to hope this is good news: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week expanded a program that it says will reduce flight delays during the peak summer season. The Airspace Flow Program gives airlines the option of either accepting delays for flights scheduled to fly through storms or flying longer routes to maneuver around them. The agency said that it rolled out a new software program that ensures airports impacted by bad weather receive the maximum number of flights that can safely fly to them. During storms, arrival slots often open up due to delayed or canceled flights. The new software program, called Adaptive Compression, automatically fills those slots with the next available flight. The software tool, which was launched in March, reduces delays, saving time and money for the airlines and passengers. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1546 4"

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